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PPL Susquehanna Steam nuclear power plant in Salem Township experienced four unplanned shutdowns in Unit 2 since December 2012.

Reports by the federal agency that oversees it and an independent scientific group spotlight serious violations with the second reactor unit at the PPL Susquehanna Steam nuclear power plant in Salem Township.

But the company says the problems were already made public and are being addressed.

In its annual assessment letter for the facility, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission "determined that overall, Susquehanna Unit 1 operated in a manner that preserved public health and safety and met all cornerstone objectives."

However, Unit 2 was another story. Because of four unplanned shutdowns - two of which had complications - since December 2012, the reactor is under increased scrutiny by the NRC.

The NRC uses a color-coded scale to indicate the severity of nuclear plant violations. Because the Susquehanna Steam facility had two in the "white," or more serious, range, it has been placed in the "degraded cornerstone" category - one of only six in the country, NRC Public Affairs Director Neil Sheehan said.

The agency looks into whether underlying problems have to do with operator training, procedures, or other factors, then diagnoses the problems and sets out a course of action to prevent it from happening again.

PPL has developed a plan of attack to get at the issues, Sheehan said. Now it's a question of putting them into action, Sheehan said.

The letter from NRC Regional Administrator William M. Dean, sent to PPL on Tuesday and made public Friday, includes a schedule of inspections for the facility and states the intention of holding a public meeting to review its performance.

The Susquehanna Steam plant isn't only on the NRC's radar: It was one of eight facilities across the nation examined by an independent non-profit group.

On Friday, Cambridge, Mass.-based Union of Concerned Scientists released its fourth annual report on the industry, "The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2013: More Jekyll, Less Hyde," by David Lochbaum, director of the organization's Nuclear Safety Project.

Lochbaum compares the NRC to the protagonist of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic: a fair and effective regulator of the nuclear industry on one hand, but on the other, inconsistent in its actions - and inaction.

"In many cases, the agency does an admirable job protecting the public and industry workers by enforcing safety regulations. But the agency too often turns into Mr. Hyde, and that kind of behavior could lead to a serious accident," he stated.

Sheehan said that, although he hadn't had a chance to review the report, he knew it had to do with "near misses," a concept "not in the NRC's lexicon."

The Union of Concerned Scientists defines "near-miss" incidents as those where the NRC "dispatches an inspection team to investigate an event or condition that increases the chance of reactor core damage by a factor of 10 or more."

These "near-misses" have declined from 15 in 2011 to 14 in 2012 to 10 in 2013, and their relative severity also decreased in 2013, the study found. The report concluded that, while these "near-misses" are becoming fewer and less severe, they are still occurring, and, although an effective watchdog, the NRC's overall record was marred by inconsistent enforcement and some significant safety lapses.

But, Sheehan said of the organization's highlighting issues with the eight nuclear plants, "These are examples that show the regulatory process is working to correct minor problems before they become major safety issues."

Scopelliti said the issues addressed in the Union of Concerned Scientists report and the NRC letter are the same in some ways, so he chose to address both at once.

At the time the events happened, PPL took immediate action to understand their cause, Scopelliti said. The company issued press releases to inform the public and the media, and took corrective action.

"Because we had white findings, we are working with the NRC to schedule an inspection so they can review the actions we have taken," he said.

There are two NRC inspectors at the plant all the time, and teams of specialized inspectors come to the plant throughout the year, Scopelitti said. The NRC looks at the records and audits them, he said.

"As a regulator, they are a very thorough about their job, so any insights they give us help to make us better," he said.

eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072

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